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 Melissia wrote:
Geeze, world of walking's graphics are even worse than I remember.

There is a lot of hate tword's the biggest MMO game from gamers. There are many reasons for this and they are quite varies. Melissia is entitled to hate WoW -- but it does not mean WoW is a bad game.

However, the subset of people on this forum that hate WoW do not define the majority of gamers. World of Warcraft has 9.1 million subscribers as of August 2012, which makes them much more popular than other MMOs. We can expect this number to increase with the release of Mists of Pandaria.
Simply put, WoW is what put MMOs on the map for most of the modern world. WoW is the "Magic the Gathering" of MMOs. This image shows all the subscription numbers for games with 1 million or more subscribers.
As was mentioned, Blizzard is not known for inventing new ideas, they are known for polishing the heck out of existing ideas. Everyone knows starcraft was ripped right off of 40k. Yet, starcraft is an excellent universe and fun to play.

Blizzard also is smart enough to move with the times. Melissia mentioned world of walking. I would suggest finding a copy of Everquest I and playing that for a little while. Going from one land to the next was literally a 40 minute boat ride. When WoW was released they had transports (flight points) but most of the game was walking. Today you can fly very quickly to where you want to go, and there are many portals to help. Like all MMOs, WoW is changing the way the game is played.

Blizzard has also realized that hard core raiders are not their bread and butter. They are shifting the game to more of a causal play -- which I personally like as I would rather spend more time with my kids than raiding. Playing a few hours a weeks is perfect. This is another way that WoW is evolving. They still have the hard-core raiding, but its much more accessible. I can even experience it in the LFR system and see the story.

Personally I will be playing MOP. I am smart enough to buy my subscription in 6 month blocks, so 12 bucks a month easy to swallow. Even if I only play 4 hours a week, its still the cheapest entertainment that I can have at the house. Hell, when compared to GW games prices, WoW is a steal.

When other games come up that are fun, I also play them. I played SWTOR for two months as the storylines were great. I expect to play others as they come up.
However, as Blizzard keeps updating their game and making it new and interesting I will keep that 12 buck a month subscription for when I want to play it.


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 Amaya wrote:
If it wasn't for the fact I've been playing since classic I would be interested in MoP. As far as MMOs go I still consider WoW to be the creme of the crop, but a good bit of the fanbase came from WC1-3 players who are now aging out of gaming.

You know that WoW is not the same game it was in vanilla. It looks the same on the top, but the playstyle is completely different. For example, my disc priest nukes to heal. This is a much more fun game than 'Wack a mole'.

I agree that the Blizz fans are aging -- and that is why they are shifting their game to a more casual player content. 6 years ago before I was married with kids, playing all weekend was a great idea. Now being a father and husband makes that not feasable. I am sure that many other gamers are in the same boat.